Per-diem car-record account cabinet and cards.



H. A. VAN HOUTEN.

PER DIEM CAR RECORD ACCOUNT CABINET AND CARDS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11. 1914 2 SHEETS-CHEET 1.

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Patented July 18, 1916.

H. A. VAN HOUTEN.

PER DIEM CAR RECORD ACCOUNT CABINET AND CARDS.

Patented July 18, 1916;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 APPLICATION FILED MAR. I7. I9I4.

III

IIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII III IHIIrMMIIIIII W II HENRY A. VAN I-IOUTEN', or BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON.

PER-DIEM CAR-RECORD ACCOUNT CABI NET AND CARDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 17, 1914. Serial No. 825,338.

of the railroad employing the record system, the primary object of the invention being to provide an account record cabinet and cards whereby the disposition and condition, whether empty or loaded, of all foreign cars upon the tracks of a railway may be conveniently kept with a minimum amount of time and labor, and so that the per diem charges upon any car may be readily and quickly obtained at any time.

A further object of the invention is to provide an account record cabinet and cards which facilitate the operation of filling out,

applying and removing the cards in ena-' bling a record of any, particular car to be ascertained at any time, and also by means of which the time and labor involved in keeping the records of this character by the ordinary system of bookkeeping may be considerably reduced.

The invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which 1 7 Figure 1 is a front elevation of a card record cabinet embodying my invention and employed in my record system. Fig. 2

is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical front to rear sectlon through the cabinet on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a fragmentary top plan view, showing a portion of the cabinet containing several card receiving pockets or cells on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a sectional view thereof. Fig. "6 is a plan view of a series of record cards employed in the system made according to my lnventlon. Flg. 7 1s a detail view of one of the cards, showing the same made out to indicate ltems pertalnmg' to the record of a particular car.

All railroads find it necessary to maintain a staff of clerks for the purposeof keeping a record of the presence, movements and Patented July18,1916. 7

condition, whether empty or loaded, of the if foreign cars, or cars. of other railroads,

which are in transit or being employed upon the lines of the railroad in question, in order that the cars may be properly routed and accounted for, losses and car shortages prevented, and the per diem runnings of the cars obtained, claims for errors or da1nages avoided. This entails upon the railroad considerable labor and expense, in the employment of clerks, agents, etc., owing to the system of bookkeeping usually em ployed; r I

The particular object of my invention is to provide a record system. by means of 1 which an accurate record of the facts relating to all foreign cars may be kept in a much simplified manner, with greater certainty and convenience, and at a material saving in cost to the railroad.

In carrying my invention into practice I provlde an account cabinet '1 which is provided atv its upper rear portion with a bracket 2, by which the cabinet may be arranged upon a. desk or other support in an inclined plane, so that the top or upper surface of the cabinet will slope at a desired degree. The cabinet is preferably of rectangular or oblong rectangular form and comprises a bottom 3, top and bottom walls 4- and 5 and side walls 6 and 7, the interior of the cabinet being dividedby main and vertical transverse partitions 8 and 9 into a plurality of record sections or compart ments 10. Each of these record sections or compartments 10 is further subdivided by vertical and transverse strips 11 and 12 to provide cells or pockets 18,'arranged in vertical and transverse rows, and of which any desired number to each record section or compartment may be employed, one hun tiers. one above the other, so that such head portions of the cards may be readily and conveniently viewed and distinguished from the front of the cabinet. 13y thus con truct expensive construction. The cells or pockets of each record section or compartment are consecutively numbered from 1 to 99 in any convenient manner, the lower row of cells being numbered 1 to 9, inclusive, the next row of cells from 10 to 19, inclusive, and so on throughout the series. This may be understood, or the numbers of the cells may be marked in any convenient manner upon the walls thereof. For the purpose of enabling the location of a cell of any particular number to be quickly ascertained when the cells are filled or partially filled, the marginal walls of each section or compartment are provided with indications along two of the sides thereof, in alinement with the vertical and transverse rows of cells. In the present instance, for purposes of example, indications of the character described are shown along the bottom and one of the sides of one of the sections or compartments 10, each set of indications consisting of the digits, beginning with O and ending with 9, the arrangement being such that by following out the numerals in the two sets of indices the location of a cell or pocket bearing any particular number may be quickly and conveniently ascertained. Thus if it is desired to determine the location of pocket No. 46, by following up the vertical row from the numeral 4L in the lower row of indices until it intersects the cell or pocket in line with the numeral 6 of the vertical row of indices, the location of pocket 46 will be evident as it falls at the intersecting point.

In conjunction with the cabinet, con structed as above described, I provide cards or slips 14, made of paper or other suitable material. Each of these cards has its face portion imprinted to provide a form for the reception of any desired indicating matter relating tothe number, condition and movements of a car whose route, etc., is to be kept track of. As shown 1n the present instance each card is provided with two transverse subdivisions at the top or head portion, one being designated No, to recelve the number of the car, and the second being denoted by the word Initial to reing and the words Delrd to to receive matter indicating the line of routing and the title of the road to which the car 18 finally delivered. In the body of the column 15 may be placed any appropriate signs, symbols or other matter indicating in regular order the conditions of the car at different times. In the central column 16, which is provided at the top with the heading Disposition, may be inserted the matter opposite the insertions in the column 15 relative to the location or disposal of the car at any time, and in the column 17. which is appropriately headed Date, will be placed opposite the items in the columns 1.5 and 16 "the dates on which said items were entered. The bottom of the card is transversely divided to provide a footing .pace 18 designated Total per diem, in which may be placed the final statement of the number of days for which there is a per diem charge, indicating the time the car has been ca route or employed on the road in question and the sum total to be paid in earnings to the railroad owning the car. For convenience in enabling the time periods of use of various cards or slips to be determined by a casual inspection of those with in the cabinet or rack, different colored cards may be employed for different month periods. For instance, as shown in Fig. 6, a series of cards 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 2%, siX in number, but which are differently colored, may be used for each SlX months period of the ye. r, beginning with January and ending with June, and then beginning again with July and ending with December. Thus foreign cars which remain from one month to another on the lines of the railroad may be detected at a glance, so that where there is any apparent unusual length of stay, the accountant may inspect the card to determine all facts relating to the case, and send the car forward on its route if it has been unduly detained.

In employing thesystem in practice, it may be found convenient to arrange all the cards relating to the cars of a particular foreign road in one of the sections or compartments 10 of the cabinet, particularly where a large number of cars of such foreign road are constantly upon the tracks of the railroad keeping the account system, and if there are several such foreign roads each one may be given a separate section or compartment, and one or more other compartments provided for general use in keeping an account of the cars of other roads. It will, of course, however be understood that there may be but a single section or compartment common to all foreign roads, according to the manner in which the account system is conducted by the railroad using it. It is found convenient and desirable in classifying the cards, to use the last two figures of the number of the foreign car whose record is to be kept as the designating numeral of the pocket in which it is placed.

for the card, simplifies the classification of the cards and also avoidsconfusion. By this mode of indication and classification of the cards in the pockets, the necessity of employing a large cabinet or rack for keeping even a large number of cards is avoided, since a very large number of cards may be stored within a cabinet rack containing a comparatively small number of pockets.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that the accountant on receiving the first record of a foreign car makes out a card and fills in the initial information matter, and then as subsequent reports are received the items are entered upon the card, which is placed in its proper cell or pocket, and by inspection of which at any time all information relating to the disposition of the car and its condition, whether empty or loaded, may be readily determined, also whether or not it has been properly routed. The accounting officials may therefore by reference to the cabinet or rack ascertain at a glance the routing of any particular car, the date the same arrived on the line, whether the car was loaded or empty on its arrival, and whether or not the car has been on the line for any unusual length of time, thus enabling the cars of foreign roads to be kept track of, as well as properly handled or routed, so as to facilitate the transportation, and at the same time avoid liability of undue detention and shortage of cars by the reason of such unusual detention. At the end of every months period the cards may be inspected and a report made indicating the length of time each car remained on the line, so that prompt bills for per diem charges, etc., may be rendered, avoiding all claims for damages due to incorrect per diem account-- ings under ordinary systems. After each foreign car has left the line, the card representing the same may be transferred to a second or temporary case for inspection for a certain time, and finally filed away permanently in a third case, which case may be of a similar character to the one disclosed, and allowing any particular card to be found conveniently at any time. It will be apparent, of course, that the construction of cabinet cards employed by me enables the records to be kept in accurate manner and with a minimum amount of time and labor, so that a vast saving is secured over the common practice of bookkeeping, as well as the trouble and labor of handling books, while the number of accountants may be reduced and errors avoided.

I claim 1. Means for theuse of railroads in keeping a record of the cars of foreign railroads upon its tracks, comprising a cabinet having pockets or cells arranged in numbered vertical and transverse rows, and cards adapted to be placed in said pockets or cells, each card having appropriately designated spaces to receive the number of a car, the name of the road to whichit belongs, and other data for indicating the routing and condition of the car, and a suitably designated spaceto receive a statement of per'diem charges.

2. Means for use by railroads for keeping records of cars traveling on the-tracks thereof, said means comprising a cabinet having vertical and transverse rows of pockets, numerical indications designating the respective vertical and transverse rows of pockets, and cards adapted to be placed within saidpockets, each card having appropriately designated spaces to receive the number of a-car, the name of the railroad to v which it belongs, its'rounting, items pertaining to its disposition and condltion, and a statement of per diem charges.

8. Means for use by railroads for keeping 1 a record of the cars of foreign railroads on its tracks, comprising a cabinet disposed in an inclined plane and having cells or pockets arranged in numbered vertical and transverse rows, and cards adapted to be placed in said pockets according to car numbers placed thereon, each card having appropriately designated spaces to receive items respecting the number of a car, the name of the railroad to which it belongs, items respecting the routings and condition of the car at different times, and a statement of per diem charges, said cards being arranged in a set of different colors for different portions of a period of time.

4. Means for use by railroads for keeping a record of the cars of foreign railroads on its tracks, said means comprising a cabinet having cells or pockets arranged in numbered vertical and transverse rows, and cards adapted to be placed in said pockets according to car numbers placed thereon, each card having suitably designated spaces to receive the car number, the name of the railroad to which it belongs, items respecting the routings and disposition of the car at different times, together with the dates thereof, and a statement 'of per diem charges, said cards being differently colored to distinguish the same according to months.

5. Means for use by railroads for keeping a record of the cars of foreign railroads on its tracks, said means comprising a cabinet having cells or pockets arranged in numbered vertical and transverse. rows and disposed in an inclined plane, and agroup or series of cards adapted to be placed in said pockets according to car numbers placed thereon and being of contrasting appearance to distinguish the same according to months, each of said cards having a head portion with appropriately designated spaces for the number of the car and name of the railroad to which it belongs, and having its body portion provided with an appr0priately designated column for routing indications, an associated column to receive items relative to various dispositions of the car and associated dates, a suitably designated space to receive an item respecting delivery, and a suitably designated space to receive items respecting per diem charges, the construction and arrangement being such that by casual inspection of the cells of the cabinet an approximate determination at any time of the history of each car represented by a card may be quickly and conveniently made.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY A. VAN HOUTEN. lVitnesses:

WALTER B. SLADE, H. W. MACINTOSH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

